cicu case study

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A Short Case Study in Brand Strategy, Web Design

and Social MediacIcu Communications and PR Workshop

November 30, 2011

Dan ForbushExecutive Director of Communications

Daniella NordinOnline Community Manager

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Key Marketing Question

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How can we strengthen our Creative Thought Matters messaging so as to improve our ability to attract high-quality (AQR 8, 9, and 10) students?

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MethodologyWe determined that qualitative research with key constituencies regarding general perceptions of Skidmore and specific CTM 2.0 ideas would be the most efficient way to develop an effective and actionable plan. This research by Mark Edwards and Company included:• Focus groups on campus with 40 students, mostly high-achieving

and HIE-involved juniors and seniors • Focus groups on campus with 30 faculty from diverse departments• Phone interviews with 12 faculty members • A three-day online focus group with 30 young alumni• Focus groups with 30 high-achieving junior and senior high school

students at three private schools in Boston and New York area

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Four ‘Levers’

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1Connect CTM to consequence (jobs, careers, start ups, cultural impact, happiness) in

Math, Science and Business particularly.

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2Make the website and online presence the CTM 2.0 poster child.

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3Shift from static “copy” to dynamic content through the voices and stories of the

student, the alum, and the professor.

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4Turn up the volume on CTM from Admissions through Year One.

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CTM 1.0 versus CTM 2.0

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awareness interest application acceptance attendance graduation

CTM CTM 2.0

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Project Plan

Abbreviated

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Key Question

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How can we best invest $150,000 in our Creative Thought Matters messaging so as to improve our ability to attract high-quality (AQR 8, 9, and 10) students?

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1) Create a Great Web Site

2) Creatively Employ Social and Mobile Media

3) Other Strategic Admissions Initiatives

4) Other Strategic Branding Initiatives

Our ‘Four Levers’

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1Create a Great Web Site

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We Want a Site That:

• Powerfully communicates Creative Thought Matters, telling compelling stories that support the brand

• Has superb navigation and search capabilities, and impresses all visitors with its ease of use

• Is highly interactive and participatory and drives prospective students to engage with Skidmore

• Is tightly integrated with our social media channels

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A New Approach to Home-Page Navigation

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Another Home-Page Approach

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A Fresher Look

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Let’s Expand This Idea

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Creative Thought Works

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Profiles of students and alumni who exemplify creative thinking

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CTW profiles will soon be exported to departmental pages

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In CTW

Portfolio

Photo albums that spotlight creative work by students, faculty, and alumni

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Notable

Briefs about alumni,student, and faculty achievers

In CTW

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Student reports about high-impact experiences

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In CTW

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To Launch in Summer ‘12

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• new Web design• new content management system• new Admissions ‘microsite’ • new online viewbook• new department called Creative Thought Works

Collectively, these initiatives make up our core Web upgrade

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Research

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November : Conduct focus groups with first-year students

February - April: Test new top-level page designs in focus groups

March - April: Refine top-level designs and build them out to rest of site

May: Launch new top-level pages including Admissions microsite, online viewbook, and Creative Thought Works

September – October: Conduct second round of surveys and focus groups. Modify site as needed.

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Two HelpfulResearch Tools

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iTracks

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iPerceptions

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2Creatively Deploy Social and Mobile Media

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"It's great that I get to be a part of something that is already having a successful impact on prospective students," said Emmeline Taylor '14, one of the student social media assistants.

“If we can encourage more incredible young minds to look at Skidmore simply because they saw us on a social media site then that is excellent!"

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Emmeline is the student community manager of our private FB app from Inigral

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• Students may connect in hundreds of communities: clubs, class year, major, residence halls, and interests (writers, rock bands, etc)

• 75 percent of the class of ‘15 have joined since May

• 31 percent of all Skidmore students have joined since mid-September

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First-Year Students Really Like the ‘App’

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Here’s Why

• ‘It was a lot of fun to use, and a GREAT way to make new friends.’

• ‘I found it very useful in remembering deadlines and dorm life information.’

• ‘It was great to start meeting people in my dorm and/or seminar, and to be able to ask questions to people.’

• ‘I loved getting to know people ahead of time and see who I was going to spending class and living with for the next four years!!!’

• ‘It was so helpful answering questions!!!!’

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Daniella has enlisted seven students who:• Maintain Facebook presence• Blog weekly (at least) • Tweet daily (at least) • Post photos and videos • Answer questions via Formspring• Connect with students in Zinch

Emmeline is one of them

We’re strategically using Facebook and other social media channels to drive interactions betweenprospective and current students

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Rachel Cooper, a high school junior, postsrequest to connect with Skidmore sciencemajors.

Daniella refers Rachel to ‘Student-to-Student’ and Emmeline in particular

A neuroscience major and tour guide, Emmeline connects with Rachel

A Typical Interaction In Facebook

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Rachel Cooper: Thanks so much! So what is your absolute favorite thing about Skidmore? And is there anything you don’t like?

Emmeline at Skidmore: Ah! I have so many favorite things! I love the professors because they are so committed to teaching. I also love the town of Saratoga – it’s super cute and they always have really fun festivals that go on every month! My least favorite thing is that it’s so far away from home (Colorado). I miss my family a lot, but it has been great because I have a surrogate family here. I also don’t like how cold it gets during the winter, but … there is always hot chocolate in the dining hall and I’ve learned to dress in layers hahaha

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The Following Dialog Occurs ….

This is What We Mean by ‘Engagement’

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Emmeline’s Blog

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She writes a brief review ofLee Jenkin’s Pilgrims of the Night, performed this week in the Black Box Theater.

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Emmeline’s Twitter Page

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She tweets her blog post.

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Emmeline’s Formspring Page

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She answers a prospectivestudent’s question about how she deals with homesickness

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Emmeline’s answer is posted automatically to her blog

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Emmeline also connects with prospective students in Zinch

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What is Zinch?

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Admissions-specific Networks

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Lead generator enables us to target students by geography,ethnicity, GPA and SAT. In two years Cappex has generated 16,402 leads. For Class of ‘15 it generated 239 applications.

Lead generator works like a social network. Our counselors and student reps directly message prospective students as in Facebook. Since June: 933 leads on prospective students. Fifteen have said they’ll apply.

Features student-written reviews of collges that are shared on U.S. News’ Best Colleges site. We enlist students to write about their Skidmore experience and payUnigo to run a video on the Skidmore profile page.

High school database predicts attendance probability basedon profiles of past acceptees. Between Sept 2008 andSept 2011: 102,710 viewed Skidmore page and 324 added Skidmoreto their consideration lists.

Offers school-specific pages with key facts and link to request information. Between 2008 and 2011, Skidmore pages generated 133,135 views and 255 applications.

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Our Communications Are Going Mobile as Well

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Our Soon-to-Be-Launched Platform for Mobile Devices

(Our platform is Boopsie)

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Events & News

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Facebook Page Twitter Feed

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Foursquare Allows students to “check in” at certain

places and ultimately achieve ‘mayor’ status

Since April, 2011:- 41 Skidmore College venues - 165 followers - 5,004 check-ins 

Venues include:• The Skidmore Shop• Scribner Library• Student Garden• Career Services

“Deals" of various sorts are offered to students who check-in at these venues 

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Augmented-Reality

Campus Tour

Alex Chaucer, GIS instructional technologist, has developed a smartphone app that enables campus visitors to obtain information about a Skidmore building just by pointing their

iPhone or Android at it.

We’re working with Alex to develop this app into a state-of-the-art self-

guided campus tour.

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Questions / Discussion?

Dan Forbush518-580-5746

dforbush@skidmore.edu

Daniella Nordin518-580-5616

dnordin@skidmore.edu

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